Why Abolish War

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 19, 2022

Remarks on September 19, 2022 for online event at https://peaceweek.org
Powerpoint here.

Thank you for including us. After I speak, World BEYOND War Education Director Phill Gittins will discuss the educational work that can move us away from war, and World BEYOND War Canada Organizer Maya Garfinkel will discuss the nonviolent activism that can do the same. This way, I can talk just about the easy part, which is why we should abolish war.

It’s read more

Why Abolish War Read More »

As U.S. Ships Immigrants Around, Ken Burns Claims He’s Going to Tell the Truth About the Holocaust

Is this moment, when the United States is shipping immigrants about like they’re nuclear waste, the ideal time for Ken Burns and PBS to claim they’re going to tell the truth about the U.S. and the Holocaust? They claimed that about Vietnam too. (Here’s my very mixed review.)

Of course, I hope to learn some new things from Burns and company, and do not claim to know everything, but of what I know, this is what I would make his latest film include if I had the power (but will be read more

As U.S. Ships Immigrants Around, Ken Burns Claims He’s Going to Tell the Truth About the Holocaust Read More »

In This Disaster We Are All, Ultimately, Guilty

One of my favorite blogs is that of Caitlin Johnstone. Why have I never written about how great it is? I’m not sure. I am too busy to write about most things. I have invited her on my radio show and had no reply. I do know that one of my favorite things to do is also one of hers: correct the mistakes of others. I like to correct my own mistakes too, of course, but it’s not as much fun, and only seems useful to write about when my mistake read more

In This Disaster We Are All, Ultimately, Guilty Read More »

How to Oppose Both Sides of a War

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 4, 2022

It’s tricky to oppose both sides of a war, and rarer even than supporting both sides. The weapons dealers support both sides.

In obedience to their televisions, people all over the world spend a great deal of time expressing the opinions dished out by those televisions regarding a particular war that is far from the worst war at the moment. It is the war that creates the greatest risk of nuclear apocalypse, but that does not typically enter read more

How to Oppose Both Sides of a War Read More »

2022 War Abolisher Awards to Go to Italian Dock Workers, New Zealand Filmmaker, U.S. Environmental Group, and British MP Jeremy Corbyn

By World BEYOND War, August 29, 2022

World BEYOND War’s Second Annual War Abolisher Awards will recognize the work of an environmental organization that has prevented military operations in state parks in Washington State, a filmmaker from New Zealand who has documented the power of unarmed peacemaking, Italian dock workers who have blocked the shipment of weapons of war, and British peace activist and Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn who has taken a consistent stand for peace despite intense read more

2022 War Abolisher Awards to Go to Italian Dock Workers, New Zealand Filmmaker, U.S. Environmental Group, and British MP Jeremy Corbyn Read More »

Every Single Member of Congress Is Willing to Let Yemeni Children Die

By David Swanson

Every Single Member of Congress Is Willing to Let Yemeni Children Die.

If you want to prove that statement wrong, I think you’ll want to start by proving wrong one or more of these five points:

  1. A single member of the House or Senate can compel a speedy vote on ending U.S. participation in the war on Yemen.
  2. Not one single member has done so.
  3. Ending U.S. participation would effectively end the war.
  4. Despite the temporary truce, millions of lives depend on ending the war.
  5. The passionate speeches in 2018 and 2019 by Senators and Representatives demanding an end to the war when they knew they could count on a veto from Trump have vanished during the Biden years chiefly because Party is more important than human lives.

Let’s fill these five points out a little:

  1. A single member of the House or Senate can compel a speedy vote on ending U.S. participation in the war on Yemen.

Here’s an explanation from the Friends Committee on National Legislation:

“Any member of the House or Senate, regardless of committee assignment, can invoke section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution and get a full floor vote read more

Every Single Member of Congress Is Willing to Let Yemeni Children Die Read More »